please help

Robin9

@Loubie47    Also worth checking -  house insurances, savings accounts with poor interest rates.

TrainDriver

Are EDF even offering fixed rate tariffs anymore? When I check on my account it doesn’t offer anything other than a message that their SVR is the cheapest rate they currently offer.

Loubie47

TrainDriver said:

Are EDF even offering fixed rate tariffs anymore? When I check on my account it doesn’t offer anything other than a message that their SVR is the cheapest rate they currently offer.
I saw that tonight also online, but they gave me this quote a few days ago.

I saw that tonight online too, although I got that quote a few days ago from them 

Loubie47

Robin9 said:

If @pochases thought of electricity being high and gas low is correct.  Is she using an immersion to heat her water instead of the gas; ?  Is she using fan heaters / oil filled rads instead of the gas heating ?


Looking beyond electricity and gas.

Does she get any pension credits?  That opens the door to other things like £140 warm homes discount.

Did she get the £150 ?

I assume she gets the single persons Council Tax

I am trying to clear up a whole mess as her son/partner/kids moved in to' Ahem look after her 'which they did not so they were asked to leave and left at the end of April so she went from a 5 person household to just herself, Im finding it hard to gage the heating because it was always cold in the bungalow when they were there, far too cold for my liking and found radiators turned off in some rooms and gas central heating only coming on for 2 hours early morning and an hour and half in the evening in the height of winter, the utilities were split 3 ways which I'm guessing is why the heating wasn't on for  very long.. so until they got out I purchased things like heating blankets for her during the day...
Heating is gas central heating combi boiler and I don't think she gets pension credit because I believe  she does have savings in a few isa"s  which is over the savings threshold, However, she does get the winter fuel allowance every year and I don't think she got the £150 cost of living although I could be wrong, I'll double check on that one. Yes I sorted the council tax after son left.
I hope that helps a little, I will call her energy supplier tomorrow to get the annual usage although son and clan have only been gone since April, My nan has only been in her current home for 2 years and the son and partner were there for 1.5 years of that, so difficult to gauge how much she was actually using for 12 months as a 1 person household as she's only be on her own since end of April.

Spoonie_Turtle

Loubie47 said:
… I don't think she gets pension credit because I believe  she does have savings in a few isa"s  which is over the savings threshold, However, she does get the winter fuel allowance every year and I don't think she got the £150 cost of living although I could be wrong, I'll double check on that one. Yes I sorted the council tax after son left.

I hope that helps a little, I will call her energy supplier tomorrow to get the annual usage although son and clan have only been gone since April.

If you have full details about her financial situation you can do a benefits calculation using one of these https://www.entitledto.co.uk/ or https://benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/

The 'threshold' for savings ignored on Pension Credit is £10,000, after which each £500 will cause a deduction of £1 per week.  As you have PoA it would be good to know her financial situation anyway, and doing a benefits calculation should only take 5-10 minutes - nothing to lose for making sure she's not accidentally missing out on anything.

How much looking after does she need?  It could be worth considering whether she might qualify for Attendance Allowance if she needs a fair bit of help (other members on the Benefits board are more knowledgeable about it and would be able to advise.  The CAB is a good starting point though https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/attendance-allowance/before-you-claim-attendance-allowance/check-if-entitled-to-attendance-allowance/).

Loubie47

Hi she is has full capacity and is very mobile, up and about and out to the bus daily, however, she has in the past had a stroke which although physically she has recovered from she does get muddled, with her speech late afternoon due too tiredness of the day but there is no stopping her she is up and out at the bus or either  out brewing the supermarkets with my mother who lives 2 doors away and helps with most diy/shopping etc.
as far as anything mundane like utilities paper work/ topping up her Doro mobile, repeat prescriptions etc, I take care of that side.
I think about Attendance allowance, although Im not sure she would qualify and don't know if her savings in her isa's would make it worthwhile. Ill pop over on Wednesday on my day off and over a pot of tea we'll hash out the benefits and entitled to calculator, thank you for that.

elsien

Attendance allowance isn’t means tested but it does depend on the level of support that she needs either during the day (low rate) or at night (high rate.)
From what you’ve posted it seems unlikely that she’d qualify at the moment but have a proper look at the criteria. This is a good summary.

https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/financial-support/help-with-benefits/attendance-allowance

Loubie47

elsien said:

Attendance allowance isn’t means tested but it does depend on the level of support that she needs either during the day (low rate) or at night (high rate.)
From what you’ve posted it seems unlikely that she’d qualify at the moment but have a proper look at the criteria. This is a good summary.

https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/financial-support/help-with-benefits/attendance-allowance

thank you for that, much appreciated

Loubie47

she does have a great deal of support from my mother who lives 2 doors away, in the way that she is taken shopping and dosen't need for anything as mum and partner do all her diy and we have all done a hell of a lot to rid the mould  and damage from not enough heating and her not opening the windows due to feeling cold for the last winter or two, hopefully now that said nightmares have left this year she will agree to have the heating control set for an ambient temperature whilst being mindful of bills also, she has heated blanket for the sofa and takes a hot water bottle to bed and I have lost all my proper vintage flannelette sheets to keep her toasty  at night hahaha! I don't mind in the slightest, Im happy that she is now happy if that makes sense.

pochase

From the estimates you got it does not seem that the heating/gas is the problem, it seems to be electricity, even so it is never bad to make savings.

5 people instead of one would explain why electricity is that high, there should be a good possibility of savings. Maybe do daily meter readings for a while.